Vietnam War (IOT14)
|combatant2 = | combatant1a = | combatant2a = | commander1 = | commander2 = Oyama Iwao | strength1 = | strength2 = est. 800 000 | strength3 = | casualties1 = Roman losses 648 000 | casualties2 = Unknown | casualties3 = Civilian casualties high, unknown | notes = 1 – Due to confusion surrounding Civ'ed's ragequit on Turn 5, Rhodesia was given normal claims despite never formally withdrawing from the war, and Civ'ed briefly participated in front-line operations upon his return. 2 – General Toto was injured by Libyan separatists during passage through Suez and was hospitalized before reaching the front. }} The Vietnam War (2105–2106) was the first interstate conflict in Imperium Offtopicum XIV. It was triggered by mounting Japanese hostility to the United Nations peacekeeping mission begun in 2104 that had confounded Tokyo's attempt to unilaterally annex the country. In July 2105 Japan launched a full-scale amphibious invasion of Ho Chi Minh City in a bid to drive the UN out of the country, leading to a year-long war that ultimately resulted in the complete withdrawal of Japanese forces. The conflict was characterized by vicious fighting and rampant violations of international law by Japan, including widespread civilian atrocities and use of biological and chemical weapons, and served as the impetus for the Pacific War. Background Japanese expansion into China in 2104 came under heavy scrutiny by the United Arab Republic, which contested Tokyo's claim that it was engaging in a peacekeeping mission and alleged Japan sought to seize territory for exploitative colonies. In response to an international appeal to end warlordism and mass murder in Vietnam, Japan announced it would begin a similar mission to the country. The action was initially supported by the Roman Empire and Texarkanan Mayorate, but Monaco denounced what it saw as overly aggressive behaviour by Japanese forces that included systematic and largely indiscriminate bombing of civil infrastructure. In response, the UN established a peacekeeping mission to ensure further international intervention was conducted in accordance with humanitarian principles. While Japan did not vote against Resolution 4, it subsequently attempted to revoke it and refused to co-operate with the mission. Japan's international reputation rapidly deteriorated in the wake of the Rosemary incident that winter when Texark intelligence revealed the Imperial Japanese Navy was under standing orders to prevent UN ships from entering the Gulf of Tonkin. The Japanese government insisted it knew nothing of the incident and initially stated it would accept an international investigation into its activities in China and Vietnam, but it stalled implementation and withdrew from the General Assembly before an inspection team was organized. Early hostilities In an attempt to deflect the charges of colonialism, Japan reconstituted its Vietnamese territories as the nominally independent Empire of Vietnam, although the government had virtually no real power and received no official recognition beyond Japan. Following the announcement that Japanese forces would not discriminate between UN forces and northern warlords, the United Arab Republic severed diplomatic relations with Tokyo over what it decried as deliberate belligerence intended to undermine peacekeeping efforts, shortly followed by New Rhodesia. The Platonic Republic responded by adopting a militant hardline that led to its expulsion from UNVIFOR over concerns Greek brinkmanship was compromising the mission mandate. Undaunted, Athens dispatched a convoy to relieve the Hanoi Council that summer that was attacked and routed while passing through Japanese-controlled waters, resulting in heavy damage to the fleet and the capture of numerous Greek soldiers, leading to a hasty peace settlement in which Athens pledged to refrain from further activity in Vietnam. In a separate incident, Japanese forces killed Irish aid workers operating in a UN-held border town in the Central Highlands Region. Although Tokyo issued an official apology and provided monetary compensation to the Irish government, the action was widely held as deliberate aggression, leading to official sanctions and spurring UNVIFOR sponsor states to increase their troop commitment. Japanese assault on Ho Chi Minh City On July 18, Japan launched full-scale assaults on UN positions. The Japanese air force made indiscriminate use of napalm on the Northeast Region, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties, but the attack spurred the Hanoi Council to surrender to the peacekeepers and a joint front thwarted the ground assault. An amphibious assault on UN headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City forced the peacekeepers from the region and resulted in partial encirclement of Irish and UAR forces in the highlands to the north. The attack provided a pretext for war by each of the mission's sponsor states, including Japan's ally Indo-Persia, which promptly withdrew from the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, followed soon after by Korea. The People's Republic of Sichuan, meanwhile, delivered an ultimatum demanding Japanese withdrawal from China, and declared war after receiving no reply. Fall offensives and expansion of UN mandate Allied intelligence uncovered the existence of pre-Cataclysm nuclear arsenals in the north and south of the country, and UNVIFOR scrambled to fend off a second Japanese assault while the warheads were removed to Laos. Despite high casualties and eventual UN retreat from the Northeast Region, the arsenal was secured. Meanwhile in the south, a combined Malaccan-Texark fleet confronted the Imperial Japanese Navy, sustaining heavy losses but allowing a two-pronged counteroffensive that reclaimed the Mekong River Delta. In response to Japan's total war doctrine, the United Nations adopted Resolution 12 authorizing aggressive force against Japanese-held territories, and that officially renounced the legitimacy of the Empire of Vietnam. The United Arab Republic deployed two fresh corps to Vietnam to relieve its expedition; while they operated under al-Karimi's command, they were not officially part of the UNVIFOR unit. Operation Devil-Fish Greece rejoined the war in the winter shortly after Rome recalled its UN contingent over its criticisms of the Allies' "slow" progress. In an attempt to relieve pressure on the main front and sever Japanese supply lines, both countries organized an amphibious assault on Taiwan. The campaign was intended to be commanded by Roman Emperor Andreas in conjunction with Greek general Xylon Toto, but Toto was attacked during passage through the Suez Canal by Libyan separatists and hospitalized in Cairo. The invasion fleet came under early attack by the IJN, and the landing was an unmitigated disaster as Andreas assumed direct frontline command and was cut down in the first wave. The expedition quickly retreated but was intercepted again, resulting in the near-total destruction of both countries' armed forces and humiliating peace settlements the following year. Following the death of Mayor Hannegan that winter, Texarkana adopted a regionalist foreign policy leading to an about-face on its international commitments. It abruptly withdrew from UNVIFOR, making white peace with Japan over what it claimed was a "mutual threat" posed by Greek involvement. The action was widely condemned by its former allies, and its subsequent defiance of Resolution 14 and withdrawal from the UN led to rapid deterioration of international face. Allied forces, meanwhile, continued to push northward, but began to encounter heavy fortifications built with Vietnamese slave labour. Japanese offensives in the northern regions managed to force a UN withdrawal into Laos, but was in turn expelled from the Northeast by a fully-mobilized Chinese army. Spring campaign and Japanese withdrawal Japan continued fortifying its shrinking holdings, and rumours began circulating that the military was deliberately infecting prisoners of war with biological agents. Fearing a widespread contamination trap, the Allies initially withheld further advance, but intelligence revealed the Japanese were withdrawing en masse to reinforce the Chinese front. UN forces launched a mass push to Hanoi in a bid to catch the retreat as the Allied navy moved to intercept the convoy; while replenished Allied fleets were still unevenly-matched with the IJN, the Japanese had completely withdrawn their air support and the convoy was devastated by bombing runs. Without Japanese protection, the Vietnamese puppet government imploded. While combat operations had ceased as of summer, the war only officially ended with Japan's collapse later that year. UN troops entered Hanoi to find the city literally destroyed and nearly the entire population murdered; search and rescue effort uncovered only 124 survivors. The atrocities led to formal charges of war crimes against the Japanese government and further hardened the resolve of combatants in the ongoing Pacific War. See also * Pacific War (IOT14) * Sino–Japanese War (IOT14) Category:Wars in Asia Category:Wars in IOT14 Category:Vietnam War (IOT14) Category:Pacific War (IOT14)